Toronto Triathlon Festival race report

On July 22nd I commuted with Meredith the 8KMs to Ontario Place on the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to race the inaugural Toronto Triathlon Festival.  I had the real pleasure to meet the organizing team, referred race announcer Steve Fleck to them, and generally give some advice on minor athlete issues. It was a real honor to be associated with the tireless team and provide however little value I could with the first time race in my city. I was excited and wanted to do well as a thanks to the organizing team who I knew put a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and money into this!

It is extremely hard to get roads closed in Toronto. The TTF not only did that, they were able to close the Gardiner Expressway and Down Valley Parkway east and northbound respectively. This was huge!  It just doesn't happen to get the bike portion of a triathlon on closed roads never mind the main artery for Toronto traffic. We also swam around Ontario Place in a very sheltered and fast section through a marina with million dollar yachts. And finally, we ran along the the Martin Goodman Trail on the shores of the lake that I train on multiple times a week.

Swim: 20:10 (PB) for 1500 Meters.
I had a rocket of a swim! I felt fantastic in my new Highway Nineteen Rogue wetsuit and kept drilling it right to the ramp to exit the water. I was loving the swim and feeling I was on a good day. Some thought the swim was short but my PB was by a slim margin. There were a few turns and the water was a constant depth adding to the speed. If it was short, only by 50M.

Bike: 1:00:23 for 40KM
My bike was interesting. I was turning a top gear and feeling great but wasn't pulling a whole lot of riders back. I know I passed a few in the swim but was fighting self doubt on my bike legs. Turns out I was doing pretty darn good with 5th fastest overall for the day. I was focused and determined to catch the final two guys in sight. I got one just before the no pass zone, and the second I had to hold up for 10 seconds while we went through the no pass zone. Safety first! These ten seconds or so do come up later!

Run: 40:39 for 10KM
I started the run and did my best to stay contained. I wanted to test my nutrition and my issues with stitching. After a KM I opened up and the side stitch issues came and went. I worked through my 3 strategies to take care of this; first, deep breaths from the belly and aggressive exhale from the diaphram. Second, move from left foot to right foot on my inhale and exhale. Third, slow down slightly. Strategy #2 was really working and I picked it up again as Cameron Bush passed me. I tried to hang on but that lasted 10 seconds! The boy can move! Staying within myself I pushed pace and tried to cap a 40 minute 10KM run. Coming to final KM my stitch really bit me and I forced as best I could the pain to the side and ran into the line in agony. I loved it! Awesome run for me!

Finish: 2:02:53

Overall I finished 4th and won my age group. Good enough to take my spot and join my fellow Canadians at the World Olympic Distance Championships in London England in September 2013! And those 10 seconds? View the results link above and see that 3,4,5 were separated by 2 seconds!!! But, because I am an old guy at 41, I wasn't racing side by side with the other two guys because I started 5 minutes after them in swim wave #2. I am actually quite happy about that, I don't think I wanted that hard a sprint at the time-:) 

Post script:

On reflection it was just so great to race in my home city, on closed roads, with my wife Meredith and little pooch Gatsby alongside. I really enjoyed the race and highly recommend it to my fellow athletes next year. Are there areas for improvement? Of course there is. But overall, for an inaugural event, this was an amazing experience. 

Next up is Ironman Canada. I am ready. Time to put the old weary bones to another Ironman!

Thanks for checking in.

IMPORTANT READ FOR CYCLISTS IN TORONTO RE: BYLAWS.

As some of you may know the Morning Glory Cycling Club was pulled over on a group ride recently and told that they were in violation of the Toronto by-law stating that cyclists must ride single file. The MGCC was told that if they were found riding 2 or more abreast in the future, the riders would be fined.

The MGCC and I have been doing some digging: While there is nothing in the Highway Traffic Act stopping cyclists from riding side-by-side, it is against city bylaws.

Since that incident, I’ve been working with Dan Egan and Christina Bouchard (both of whom work for the city in Cycling Infrastructure and Programs Transportation Services on the best way of getting this bylaw dropped from the books.

Dan and I worked together on the recent Coroner's panel on Cycling death in Ontario. He’s a very good guy. Dan thinks our best bet on getting this law changed is to email the City’s by-law working group. As Dan pointed out to me "The Coroner has sent a letter to the City identifying Recommendation 9 as something the City should address”. Coroner’s recommendation 9 suggests the City do a “comprehensive review of ... City by-laws... to ensure they are consistent and understandable with respect to cycling and cyclists and therefore easier to promote and enforce."

The city now has now formed a working group to review the city's cycling-related by-laws. Several of the panel members in this working group are very sympathetic to this issue. Christina Bouchard (one of the members of this working group) has kindly offered to collect any letters sent on this issue and bring the letters to the group’s attention.

Below is a copy of the letter I sent to Ms. Bouchard (cboucha@toronto.ca).

Dear Ms. Bouchard,

I would very much appreciate it if you would pass on the concerns outlined below to the cycling bylaw working group.

I have reviewed Toronto’s cycling bylaws (as found at: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/bylaws/2011/law1409.pdf) and several of the existing bylaws are of particular concern to those of us who use our bikes for training and competition as well as commuting. As you are probably aware, there has been a marked increase in recent years in the number of road cyclists and triathletes who use City roads not only for commuting, but also for training. This is consistent with the general growth in popularity of road cycling across Canada. Indeed, a recent article in the Globe and Mail (reported http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/more-sports/cycling-is-the-new-golf-the-rise-of-an-on-trend-activity/article4246149/) reports that the growth rate is in the 10% range and commented that Canadian road cyclist Ryder Hesjedal’s recent victory in the Giro d’Italia is likely to contribute to the continued popularity and growth of this sport:

In particular, I would like to draw the working group’s attention to the following 2 by-laws:
1) No person shall operate a bicycle upon a roadway other than by riding in single file except when overtaking another vehicle.
2) No person operating a bicycle shall carry any package, bundle, or article which prevents the rider from keeping both hands on the handlebars

As any cycling club will tell you- riding single file increases (not decreases) the risk to cyclists. A group of cyclists needs more room on the road than an individual cyclists in order to avoid the usual road hazards as well as the cyclists in front or behind them. For this reason- The only safe way for a car to pass a large group of cyclists is to switch lanes. Riding single file adds to the temptation of car drivers to attempt to pass the group without changing lanes, which is not a safe way to pass a larger group of cyclists.

When a group of cyclists claim the lane and ride two or more abreast- it increases their safety in several ways:
1) It sends a clear message to drivers that they must switch to another lane in order to safely pass the group
2) By riding 2 or 3 abreast, the length of the group is shortened by ½ to 2/3, making it far quicker and easier for motorists to pass the group.

As any experienced group cyclist will tell you, Riding in formation with 2 or more cyclists abreast is a standard safety procedure performed by any large group of cyclists. This procedure is so well established that the various formations cyclists use (which are dependent on the wind direction and the speed of the group) have a universally used set of names and the same formations are used by cycling clubs throughout the world (see the following websites for some examples of the formations use):
http://www.pearlandcyclingclub.org/safety-paceline.html
http://www.cyclingtips.com.au/2009/02/rolling-turns-pacelining-echeloning/

I should also add that group cycling is supported by the cycling safety research, which shows that increasing the density of cyclists improves their overall safety. Researchers refer to this as the “safety in numbers effect” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_in_numbers).

I am also concerned about the bylaw preventing cyclists from carrying any “article” that prevents them from keeping both hands on the handlebars at all times. Presumably, this means it is against the law for cyclists to remove a hand from their handlebar to eat and drink while on their bikes. There is no evidence that eating and drinking while riding is unsafe and as someone who drives a car and rides a bike. I can say that it is at least as safe for me to eat and drink on my bike as it is in my car.

For these reasons, I believe the bylaws noted above should be dropped.

Chris Cavacuiti
Staff Physician, Department of Family and Community Medicine
St Michael's Hospital
Toronto, ON
M4X 1K2